spammers

If you're not convinced that every Facebook fan page really earned all of its "Likes," you are not alone. That's why Facebook's management team has decided to weed out and remove any fake "Likes" that can be identified. For years Facebook has ... offered users the ability to indicate they "Like" individual pages and posts. Facebook members can "Like" their favorite celebrity, their favorite band, their friends' vacation photos, and even a witty status update. The problem is, "Likes" became a form of currency for Facebook spammers. To artificially spike interest in certain pages -- ... (view more)

One of the most infamous spammers in history has turned himself in to the authorities. Sanford Wallace, known to many as the ' Spam King ' for his infiltration of thousands of Facebook accounts, has now been charged and could face a decade in prison ... if found guilty. The 43-year-old Spam King is best known for breaking into 500,000 Facebook user accounts and then spamming them all with a total of about 27 million bogus messages. Wallace carried out the attacks in 2008 and 2009, and made considerable cash off the scheme by driving Internet traffic to various marketing companies who in turn paid ... (view more)

After receiving an unsolicited email message ( spam ), most people would delete the suspicious message without giving it a second thought. One California man, however, is not only welcoming the prospect, but has been able to trap spammers for ... financial compensation, making a healthy living in the process. After being bombarded with spam on a daily basis, Dan Balsam had an idea: he would quit his job in the marketing field and go to law school in an attempt to fight those responsible for unsolicited email advertisements and messages. Since 2002, Balsam has fought, won and settled his way to ... (view more)

With thousands of people flocking to social networking sites each day, a campaign to reduce the ever-increasing spam attacks on Twitter should come as little surprise. What is unusual, however, is where funding for the research needed to crack down ... on Twitter spammers is coming from: Google. Google is offering a grant to researchers at Texas A ... (view more)

It's no secret: Gmail (along with Yahoo! Mail and Hotmail) users face the wrath of spammers all the time. Fortunately, most of that virtual junk mail ends up in a designated spam bin, never to be bothered with. However, a recent report suggests ... spammers may now be hacking gmail accounts to get their message across. "The Gmail team takes security very seriously and is investigating the reports we've seen in our user forums over the past few days," Google noted in an announcement on Tuesday. "We encourage users who suspect their accounts have been compromised to immediately ... (view more)

Facebook won an unprecedented $711 million dollar legal victory over one of the world's most notorious spammers, Stanford Wallace. While many feel that the triumph over Wallace is a just legal victory, critics argue that the decision could actually ... help spammers. Spam King Forced to Abdicate Throne Late last week, Judge Jeremy Fogel ordered Sanford Wallace to pay $711 million in damages for flooding Facebook with unwanted spam messages. Dubbed the "Spam King", Wallace would assume control of a victim's account and post dubious wall messages. (Source: computerworld.com ) The posts, which began ... (view more)

Researchers at Northwestern University and New York's Yahoo! Research have shown that they can catch spammers by the timestamps of their emails, paving the way for smarter advertisements, better spam filters, and more convenient social networking. ... (Source: wired.com ) The new technique can differentiate people by using only the timestamps in their Sent folders with a snapshot of what they're doing. You can get meaningful information by knowing what time people send their emails. 80 to 90 Percent of the World's Email is Spam Yahoo! is interested in finding a better way to catch spammers. ... (view more)